Men's Basketball Hosts Bulldogs in "Battle of Brooklyn" at the Hill Center

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The Bear Facts

• After averaging less than 60 points in a pair of tough losses two weeks ago, the offense found their strut again averaging 88 points over a 2-1 week and ascending to the top of the Skyline offensive leaderboard, now averaging 79.5 points a game.
• The Bears come off a 92-75 triumph over 3rd place Yeshiva on Saturday, earning a season sweep of the series. In the win, SJC crossed 90 points for the seventh time this season after shooting a season-best 57.4 percent. Michael Murray and Jamir Archer both posted a team-high 26 points, Murray setting a new career high.
• Matt O'Neill leads the offense with 18.4 points per game and 4.4 assists, ranked third in the Skyline in both categories. One the defensive end, he leads the league with 3.1 thefts an outing (6th in D3) pacing the team to a Skyline-best +3.9 turnover margin. The senior was named to the Skyline honor roll for the fifth time this season yesterday and comes off his third double-double (19 pts, 11 reb) on Saturday.
• Double-double machine Michael Megafu is tied for the Skyline lead with 11 so far (T-17 in D3) and grabs a league-best 10.4 boards (30th in D3), paired with 15.5 points a game (7th Skyline). He also ranks third in the league in blocks with 2.0 rejections a game. The senior became only the second active D3 player to join the 1,500-point/1,000-rebound club last week at Sage.

The Race for the Skyline Tournament

• With two league games remaining, the Bears (9-9) sit in a tie for the sixth-and-final tournament spot with sibling rivals SJC Long Island (8-8). Purchase (9-7) sits one game ahead in 5th.
• The Bears have a road game vs. 4th place Farmingdale—whom they lost in OT in December—and a home tilt vs. 10th place Maritime—whom they defeated by 11 one month ago.
• SJC Long Island still has Farmingdale, Purchase, Yeshiva and Mount Saint Mary remaining on the schedule, with Mount Saint Mary their only home contest. The Golden Eagles have gone 1-3 against those teams in the early meetings.

Milestone Watch

• 11: Blocks Megafu needs to become the SJC all-time rejection leader.
• 4: Steals O'Neill needs to become the SJC all-time theft king.

Inside the Doghouse

• The Bulldogs possess the top scoring offense in the CUNYAC dropping 88.0 points a game (15th in D3) and average 17.3 assists per game (18th in D3). Brooklyn spent three weeks ranked in the D3Hoops.com Top 25 poll, rising as high as 17 and received votes for five additional weeks. But the Bulldogs saw a five-game streak snapped by close losses to Staten Island and York, that place them in third in the CUNYAC, a half-game behind first.
• Three-time CUNYAC Player of the Week Egzon Gjonbalaj leads the team with 23.6 points a game (2nd in CUNY, 14th in D3). The 6-foot-2 senior also pulls down a league-leading 11.4 boards a game and has recorded 14 double-doubles (4th in D3) and dishes out 4.4 assists per game.
• Lorenzo Williams adds 19.2 points to the potent offense and shoots 75.4% from the stripe with a team-leading 138 attempts. Jamel Gist (15.8 ppg, 3.4 apg) and Edon Gjonbalaj (13.1 ppg) round out the four Bulldogs averaging 13 points-or-better.